A Day in the Life of Alex Sander

By GROUP 5

Prajna Alva (13728)

Pranesh Guptha (13729)

Prerna Saluja (13730)

PushyamiAnupindi (13731)

Raghavendra Shyam (13732)

Rahul RM (13733)

Rohitha Chowdary (13734)

Problem Statement

How should Landon effectively implement the 360 degree feedback system such that high performers like Alex Sander realize their potential?

External Analysis

Political

There are no political factors at play in the case.

Economic

There is stiff competition among products in the beauty industry. This is why Avant-Garde had allocated $25 million to fast track Alex’s project.

Social

There are no social factors at play in the case.

Technological

The 360 degree feedback system is a product of technological advancement in HRMT systems. Is it so? Reconsider.

Cultural

There are instances where teams from different countries such as France, Japan etc work on the project. This diversity would result in cultural issues in the organization.

Landon is an American firm that was taken over by a European company. This would certainly result in cultural differences.

Legal

There are no legal factors at play in the case.

Internal Analysis

SWOT Analysis of 360 degree system:

Strengths Provides a holistic review of the

candidate as it takes into account feedback from different organizational levels.

A candidate can compare and contrast his/her performance with the peer

Weaknesses It is more expensive and time

consuming to conduct as compared to traditional assessment tools.

As it is being tried for the first time at Landon, there may be problems during implementation.

group as they are involved in the process

If the candidate is perceived negatively by peers, they may provide a biased feedback resulting in flawed results.

The system is vulnerable to the “Group Shift” and “Group Think” phenomena.

Opportunities If implemented correctly, it can

provide significant advantage to Landon in identifying high performers.

It can be used by candidates to plan specific paths toward their development.

Threats If not implemented correctly, it would

be detrimental to the company resulting in Financial and Human Resource losses.

Some employees had desisted from providing feedback and comments. This would skew the final results.

SWOT Analysis of Alex Sander

Strengths Technically competent with a varied

skill set.

Extensive product and market knowledge.

Decisive and Multi-tasker.

Confident.

Weakness Task master. Expects same level of

commitment from others.

Limited patience. Arrogant.

Does not involve others in decision making.

Opportunities Alex can be promoted through the

ranks very quickly if people-skills are improved.

Alex can serve as a mentor to others thereby raising team performance.

Threats Alex may not be able to achieve

work-personal life balance.

The consistently high pace of work may result in burn out.

SWOT of 360 which is the most crucial has been handled poorly.

Many factors will not emerge if you do it that way.

Factors

Effective implementation

Employee concerns w.r.t. validity of the 360 degree system

Fairness of the system

Cost and time factors

Biased and conflicting opinions in the feedback.

Alex’s approach to workplace and co-workers.

Employees’ (especially Alex’s) future career paths would be based on the outcome of

the feedback.

Critical Factors

Implementation of 360 degree feedback system: Landon would definitely face issues

during implementation. Some employees, including Alex have reservations about this system

as they doubt its’ validity and fairness. It is vital that Landon approaches this correctly as any

discrepancies may trigger ill-will and hostility among the employees. Not clear. It is too

broad a factor to analyze

Employee concerns regarding Validity of the system: It is important that the employees

perceive the system in a favourable manner. Being an all-round review, it must result in a

consistent feedback. If there are too many inconsistencies, the integrity and validity of the

system would be in question.

Alex’s approach to work/career: It is known that despite being a high performer in many

respects, Alex is viewed negatively by some colleagues. The 360 degree feedback can either

change Alex’s approach or compel Alex to leave the organization.

Poor analysis of critical factors and incomplete coverage

Options

1. Continue with 360 degree system despite employee concernsPros: 1. Faster implementation

Cons: 1. Employee dissatisfaction2. Decision making at the senior management level would be affected

2. Modify the system to address employee concerns: Modifications suggested include involving only team members of the candidate and identifying specific criteria against which the candidate would be evaluated.Pros: 1. Addresses concerns about validity and fairness 2. Valid feedback can be used to motivate high performers like AlexCons: 1.Time consuming 2. Would result in higher costs

3. Revert to the traditional feedback system Pros: 1.Would restore status-quo in the organization

2. Evaluation is faster as it is a tried and tested technique

Cons: 1. Would result in cost overruns2. Portrays the management as being indecisive.3. Despite method being faster overall time taken would increase due to restart of process.

Recommendations:

We feel that options 1 and 3 are extreme, in the sense that they affect employees in a profound way. Option 1 also would result in financial and HR losses described earlier. Option 3 is also ruled out as it shows that management does not have faith in its own decisions.

Option 2 is the best alternative as it is progressive and at the same time addresses employee concerns. Moreover, it may result in employees like Alex making small but significant changes to their approach leading to increased morale and productivity.